How Would You Define Your Relationship To Folk Art?

Growing up my mother was my greatest influence and teacher, matched only in her breadth of knowledge and her impassioned teaching techniques by my father, who, much to his own chagrin, had to give my mother center stage due to his role as the family’s breadwinner. It was her role therefore to see that certain traditions and beliefs were exposed to me and if I chose to do so, I could carry on these particular traits, rituals, etc. Of the many teachings, I was most fond of her way of crafting and creating. She used a few things she had been shown by her mother and grandmother, but then she also invented her own techniques along the way. And so, while something like a doorstop made from wood cut into the shape of Santa Claus might smack of uber-folk, it was passed through her vehicle of creativity and came out the other side as a more hip and creative work of craft. My mother was able to inspire in me this new tradition of taking a typical craft and turning it into a more fully fashioned work of art, and so I think it is along those lines that the world of folk craft and urban art come together.